Origin

Different as they seem, pony and poultry (Middle English) have the same starting point. Latin pullus meant ‘young animal’, but it tended to be applied specifically to young horses and young chickens. The ‘young horse’ strand became Old French poulain ‘a foal’, and the diminutive form of this, poulenet, was adopted into Scots in the early 18th century as powny, coming into general English usage as pony. The ‘young chicken’ strand is the source of Old French pouletrie, from which we get poultry. See also monkey